THE Americans have had enough of the British weather.
After yet another heavy rainstorm over Wimbledon, one visitor from the USA suggested it was time to move the Championships to somewhere drier
Like Monte Carlo.
As the covers came off, the wetlands of SW19 played host to a family of ducks, who landed on Court 5 and decided to stay.
Displaying more court coverage than many of Britain’s tennis failures, the mother and her four chicks waddled from baseline to baseline, until a man with a large net – not of the tennis kind – appeared.
Mum escaped, flying off to an awning by Centre Court, but her tiny ducklings were captured.
To the relief of all, the RSPCA promised to reunite the family before the end of the day.
With extra security checks in place after the foiled car bombing just a few miles away in central London, Wimbledon needed a few smiles between the showers.

Some ticket holders thought officials had played a joke by scheduling Janko Tipsarevic against Fernando Gonzalez first on Centre Court.

Especially those who had never heard of them.
Belgrade-born Janko likes red strings on his racquet, piercings and reading the psychiatry books of Nietzsche, Dostojevski and Goethe.
He has a tattoo on his left arm with the enscription, “Beauty will save the world,” which is from Dostojevski.
Serbia’s No 2, nicknamed “Tipsy” by British fans, served up an upset by knocking out Chilean No 5 seed Fernanado.
Not even a rain delay, or the old toilet break trick, lots of lace-tying and multiple racket changes from his opponent, could deny Janko the biggest win of his career.
Through to the fourth round after a marathon five set match which fully justified its billing, his victory confirmed the onward march of Serbian tennis.
Half an hour later in the post-match interview room, Tipsy spoke of the struggle he and his family had endured on the long road from war-torn former Yugoslavia to SW19.
“Ever since I was a kid, my dream was to win matches on Centre Court of Wimbledon.
“You all know the situation in the country was really bad – how is it possible we have so good players today?
“I really don’t know.”
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